LRQA COP16 Blog, Day 10 – It came as a surprise to all of us, I guess.
13th December 2010 by Andy Ritchie
By Andrew Ritchie, Climate Change Services Manager, LRQA
Follow LRQA on Twitter @LRQA_CC_CSR
It came as a surprise to all of us, I guess.
Just when it looked as though the Cancun negotiations would produce little more than a commitment to carry on talking, common sense and the recognition of the need to compromise for the good of us all prevailed, and we reached a historic, ground-breaking and legally-binding agreement that will see all the nations of the world coming together in a concerted effort to both mitigate their greenhouse gas emissions and assist those who are most vulnerable to adapt to those changes which are already inevitable.
The world rejoiced.
Ban Ki-moon thanked the negotiators for their tireless efforts.
The world’s media hailed the agreement as the dawn of a new age of global co-operation, and the 10th December was designated a national holiday in every country on the planet…
Unfortunately, it was then that I tumbled back into reality and eventually woke up. And has today provided a reality that matches my dream. Er…no.
What Day 10 of COP16 here in Cancun has given us is a lot of decisions which need to be read, re-read and then analysed some more in order to find out whether anything substantive has come out of these lengthy discussions, other than an agreement to disagree for now and try to do a little bit better in Durban, South Africa in twelve month’s time. I guess that’s the job over the next few days.
Studying the ‘Outcome of the work of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention’ and the ‘Outcome of the work of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol at its fifteenth session’, not to mention the ‘Further Guidance relating to the Clean Development Mechanism’, or the ‘Carbon dioxide capture and storage in geological formations as clean development mechanism project activities’, in order to see whether anything truly concrete has been decided in Cancun.
Watch this space!
Andy’s Mexican Fact of the Day
The current flag of the United Mexican States, called the Fourth National Flag, was adopted by decree on September 16, 1968 and confirmed by law on February 24, 1984. It is an adaptation of the design approved in 1916 of President Venustiano Carranza, and contains a re-designed Coat of Arms, which was amended to look more resplendent in preparation for the upcoming Mexico City 1968 Olympic Games. The exact shades of the colours of the flag are yet been defined in Mexican law.
Andy’s Thought for the Day
Which is better? Cool and creased or hot and not-so-creased? I ask this question because, all week, I have been struggling with the problem of my light, linen jacket (which has kept me pleasantly cool) displaying an annoying tendency to crease very easily, leaving me often looking somewhat dishevelled. Personally, I think I prefer to be cool. I think.
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Andy Ritchie is the Group Environmental Products Manager for the